Gov. Andrew Cuomo deserves credit for so far resisting the powerful gas lobby's push to frack New York. But where does the governor stand on tying our future to fracked gas? We may soon see by how his Department of Environmental Conservation responds to 50,000 comments from New Yorkers concerned about proposed rules for liquefied natural gas.

LNG, essentially liquid methane, is a dangerous, super-cold fuel that at minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit kills flesh on contact. Held in giant cryogenic tanks, it is energy dense at one-600th the volume of methane gas and rapidly expands when spilled. Spills exposed to an ignition source can create "pool fires" that are impossible to extinguish. Even worse, a large spill can form an ignitable vapor cloud that, drifting over a populated area, could be catastrophic. This is why the federal government considers LNG facilities to be terrorist targets.

New York learned the dangers of LNG through tragedy: In 1973, 40 workers died in a horrific explosion at an LNG facility on Staten Island. As a result, the Legislature tasked DEC with writing detailed regulations on safety and siting before permitting new facilities.

Instead of doing that, however, the DEC drafted flimsy regulations last year that would place no limit on the size or location of LNG facilities — thus opening the door to LNG facilities of any kind in any community that lacks zoning to prohibit them. That's a disaster waiting to happen. Furthermore, local governments and fire departments — many of which rely on volunteers — are simply unprepared to deal with LNG disasters that could arise.

Meanwhile the gas industry is pushing to build LNG facilities in New York to liquefy and store fracked gas from Pennsylvania. An LNG build-out would include huge regional facilities for production and storage; and if industry has its way, giant export terminals could be built for shipping LNG overseas. What's more, unrestricted LNG development — allowed under the DEC's draft regulations — would create a ready-made infrastructure for fracking New York. Clearly, the DEC can no longer pretend the state will only permit a handful of small LNG truck refueling stations.

But public safety is not the only issue. As it turns out, LNG is even more damaging to the climate than regular natural gas, since LNG tanks vent the potent greenhouse gas methane by design, and methane is routinely lost or bled off during LNG transfers and fueling. Yet, shockingly, DEC's draft regulations do nothing to require methane recapture. Indeed, the entire process of LNG production, transport and regasification requires vast amounts of additional energy, translating into even more emissions. Simply put, widespread use of LNG would be a climate killer.

With tens of thousands of New Yorkers' comments critical of the draft LNG regulations, it would be a serious mistake for Cuomo to allow the adoption of woefully inadequate regulations like those proposed last year. If the governor is serious about public safety and the planet, he will tell DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens that his agency has a lot more work to ensure the LNG regulations won't exacerbate climate change or expose New Yorkers to a dangerous industry that the Legislature understood requires significant oversight.